World Cup Football has begun and the excitement in the Smith household reached a feverish peak. Brent and Erin are back in town for a few days before taking off again so we invited them, as well as Adrian, for dinner and to watch the match between England and USA. For the big event, our boys were allowed to stay up for the game even though the game started at 8:30 and they are usually fast asleep by 8:00. But it wasn’t meant to be, I guess. We had power, but ZNBC was unable to broadcast the game for some reason and all we got was static. It had been working earlier in the day but now . . . nothing. Our plans were foiled. The guys went over to the MEF student lounge to see if the problem was just with us but they couldn’t get the game there either. Adrian went home to see if he could get the game on the radio but even BBC wasn’t broadcasting. It was terribly disappointing for the boys and our fun evening fizzled out. ZNBC finally got the kinks worked out so that we could see the last fifteen minutes of the game but by then the boys were in dreamland. Bummer.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Because the internet has been turned off at MEF, we are forced to scramble to get access. Some days it is easier than others. But currently, the other place on campus that usually has internet has problems too. So Peter and I decided to have our monthly date over lunch at a café in town that has internet as well as good pizza. They are inordinately slow at making that pizza though, so we thought we could use the internet while waiting. But they didn’t have access that day so we went to our favorite restaurant, Mukwa, instead. We asked if they had wireless internet and they said they did so we got the password and tried to get on but failed. The food was great but we were still needing to send our email. Finally, we went to town and found a place that had wireless that worked and were able to do what we needed to do. It seems like a simple thing but even those simple things can be difficult sometimes.
Thursday, June 17, 2010
Peter sat in on MEF management meetings yesterday and today. Talk about a marathon. On Wednesday they met from 2:30-6:30. Today the continued from 2:00-10:30. Yikes! And the news is not good. There will be no funding for the Pan-African students and so they will be sent home. We were afraid this would happen and feel so bad for the students who sacrificed a lot to come here and were so hopeful about this opportunity to study here. At least the peace participants will leave with an Africa Peacebuilding Institute certificate, which is more than what the others have. So sad. It has been a long time of waiting and wondering and at least now we know what is happening. We will have to start thinking about what this means for our last year here and what we will do.
Peter’s colleague, Mukunto, is going to do his masters in Costa Rica, despite his bereavement. The first six weeks will be in Addis Ababa and he has arranged for Audrey to accompany him for that time. So at least they will be together for part of the time and have a bit more time to grieve together. They leave on Saturday. It feels like everything is falling apart.
Friday, June 18, 2010
The power went off this morning and stayed off until 4:00. Apparently there was a problem at the Kariba dam which meant all of Zambia, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo were affected. I wasn’t able to bake bread like I had planned but at least we got to watch two out of the three games that day.
Saturday, June 19, 2010
The game between Denmark and Cameroon was an exciting one, especially since Denmark is one of my teams, along with Argentina. Since it was the weekend, the boys were allowed to stay up late again. But our plans were foiled again by ZNBC. We got to watch the first half but then ZNBC lost their transmission and all went fuzzy. The only radio we have in our house is on a hand crank flashlight but Brendan suggested we use that to listen to the rest of the game. So we took turns cranking the radio and listening to the game. I think we get points for flexibility and at least Denmark won so the night ended well.
Sunday, June 20, 2010
You can only be flexible for so long and then it snaps. We had no power today from 12:30-6:15. Jason was so eager to watch Italy, one of his favorite teams, play the afternoon match. It would be an understatement to say he was disappointed, which was exacerbated by staying up late the last two nights and his inability to sleep in. I was having my own test of flexibility, seeing as how we were having Brent and Erin over for dinner and we had no power. I made the dough for zweibach in faith that the power would come back on soon. I managed to bake two batches in my little propane oven but it didn’t work as well as I had hoped. I could make the soup on the little stove without a problem, though bending over and stirring it, while using my headlamp to season it was a bit of a challenge. On top of it all, Jason, Brendan and I are all coming down with colds. That’s my fault though. Last week I commented to Peter and that we have all been healthy this year, especially compared to all the malaria and ailments of previous years. Peter immediately chastised me for saying such a thing, and though he is generally not as superstitious as me, in this area he is. And sure enough, three out of the four of us are now suffering. At least we can suffer in front of the TV watching football and the same eight commercials every half time . . . that is until Zesco or ZNBC decide to foil us once again.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
I’ve never had a kid beg to go to school but that is what Jason has been doing this week. Despite having the flu, he insisted that he had to be at school because they were preparing for Sports Day, which was held today. I didn’t protest too much since I am suffering at home and would rather be sick alone than caretaker for another sick person. Peter and I went to cheer Jason on at his Sports Day all morning and he had a good time. He was proud of the many times he came in first, being the ultra-competitive boy that he is. But he was also encouraging of others making us all the more proud.
Friday, June 25, 2010
It’s been a rough week with three of the four of us blowing our noses and coughing and generally miserable. I have been trying to rest as much as possible. Since the class I was supposed to teach next week is no longer necessary due to students being sent home, I was free to focus on recovering. The boys went to school in the afternoon to watch the Brazil/Portugal match on the big screen so I had even more time to myself.
Late in the day, Peter got a phone call from the head of programmes. Peter had been trying to track him down all day to find out when the students would be told that they are being sent home. The Executive Board had met yesterday, something that needed to happen before the students were told. Much to our surprise, the Board overturned Management’s decision and has mandated that the students must stay and finish their course even though there is no scholarship money. We are dumbfounded. Shocked. It is inconceivable to us that MEF will somehow find $150,000 to fund these students. It seems fiscally irresponsible to keep students here when you can’t provide for them well. Maybe it is acting on faith that we obviously don’t have. Sending the students home was sad but seemed the lesser of two evils. The students are already frustrated and discouraged and it is hard to remain in this kind of environment when your scholarship allowance isn’t given to you and things don’t function well. But it is disastrous in terms of public relations to send the students home. I’m not sure how it will all be managed but it means that Peter will be flying solo in the Peace Center until December when the students graduate. We had begun to reconcile ourselves to the reality of having no students to teach and begun to dream about future possibilities. I admit that we were relieved to be thinking about getting off of this sinking ship. But now we are yanked back. Talk about whiplash.
Saturday, June 26, 2010
We are still in shock at the Board’s decision to keep the students here. Peter and I will look at each other and just shake our heads. I was scheduled to teach next week but in talking with Peter and thinking that the students were going to be sent home, I didn’t prepare for the class. Originally I was scheduled to teach this week but then it was moved to September since Mukunto was going to teach all of June. Then we heard he needed to leave earlier than expected so I was back on. Then the decision was made to send students home so I left it again. But now suddenly it is back on and I am caught with my pants down. Peter and I have worked something out so that I teach two of the days, which will work fine since there are public holidays and I don’t think I could have taught a whole week on communication anyway.
Today I could finally breathe through my nose but then the stomach cramps began. They would begin half an hour after I ate or drank anything which makes me suspect giardia. Needless to say, I was feeling miserable once again. Because the emotional rollercoaster associated with MEF, having the flu and cramps wasn’t enough, the power went out again. It was out for five hours, finally coming on at 7:00. Peter, bless his heart, took over, cooking soup on the propane stove and boiling water on the little stove for baths for our filthy boys. The boys were thankful that the power came back on for the USA match though it was disappointing to see them lose. All in all, it was a dreadful day, though the USA football loss wasn’t terribly dreadful as it is good to have an African team still in the tournament.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
The week has flown by. I have recovered enough to attend to all the things I put off when sick. I taught two days of communication with the four peace participants and it went fine. It isn’t easy teaching just a handful of students, especially after API when there were nearly twenty in my class and so much energy. Even though we can’t understand the logic in decisions made here at MEF, we are trying to do our best to build into the ones that have remained. Peter will have his work cut out for him with teaching a class of four for the next six months. It makes it difficult to do group exercises and the discussions can get stale. But hopefully they will continue to learn and catch the vision for peacebuilding.
All along, Jason and Brendan have been rooting for Brazil to win the World Cup. Jason is notorious for choosing a team and then switching sides after the opponent scores a goal. He really can’t stand to lose. But Brazil has been a favorite all along, probably because they were favored to win it all and he thought it was likely to happen. But when they lost this afternoon, he was distraught. Truly heartbroken. He was sobbing, tears streaming down his face, really taking it hard. I guess he hasn’t learned yet that it is just a game. Poor kid.
The boys attempted to stay up to watch the Ghana/Uraguay match but fell into bed before they went into overtime. I admit that I fell asleep for part of the additional thirty minutes but woke up before the exciting finish. For those who aren’t following the games, Ghana is, now was, Africa’s hope for the World Cup. It is really all we hear about. So much was riding on this team. And they had a chance to beat Uraguay in the final seconds of overtime when there was a handball in the box and Ghana got a penalty kick. Incredibly, the Ghana player missed, hitting the crossbar with his shot and they had to go into a penalty shootout. Uraguay ended up winning the game and Africa is out of the World Cup. So sad. This is Peter’s bit of wisdom for the day: “Never go into penalty shootouts with a country that ends in ‘guay.’ (Paraguay also won in penalty shootout.) Wise words to remember. Peter likes my quote during the Brazil game. A bit of background, for me, the World Cup is all about hair. I choose my teams based on whether the players have good hair or not. This kills Peter but there has to be something more to critique than just the game itself, I believe. Argentina is my team, mostly because they have good hair. Messi’s hair never even gets sweaty, Romero’s hair is neatly held back in a ponytail, Tevez can get away with a headband but nobody else in the tournament can, Heinze’s hair is fabulous and he doesn’t need a headband, and Coach Diego Maradona has a great head of hair. You have to agree with me. The boys wonder why I don’t like Cristiano Ronaldo and basically, he has bad hair. But he thinks he has good hair which makes it worse. Beckham too. Anyway, during the Brazil match, I turned to Peter and said, “I like Kaka’s hair, but it isn’t enough.” Enough to cheer for Brazil, that is. And it turns out, his great hair wasn’t enough to get them through to the semifinals. And there you have it. My take on the World Cup.
(Later . . . ) I hate the World Cup. Argentina just got flogged by the Germans and they are out. There’s no more good hair so why bother watching?
Tomorrow I am off to Lusaka to do a workshop on African Indigenous Christian Counseling with representatives from the various Brethren in Christ churches in the Lusaka area. That will last two and a half days. Wednesday I will pick up Peter’s parents from the airport and drive them up to Kitwe Thursday morning. We are so excited for their visit and the vacation we will take together. A much needed breath of fresh air!
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